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I clicked on a Fox link and listened briefly to a live stream, and heard another congressman being interviewed who implied this was due to increased heat and violent rhetoric from people at town halls upset about things like healthcare. In other words, they're going to start blaming liberals for violent rhetoric, despite the fact that the right has been ramping up on that through both of Obama's terms and of course during the reign of Orange Julius.

So the shooter was a 66 year old white dude from Illinois. He was a huge Bernie supporter who called Hillary "Republican Lite" and spent a ton of time railing against Trump. His Facebook was public and open for comments and it's extremely vile there right now. There's a sickness in this country.

I had a feeling one of them would go rogue at some point. I've been watching white dudes on both sides of the political spectrum sound completely mental for two years now. I am saddened but not at all surprised. It just sucks because its a setback for the Democrats, even though the person who did it is not a Dem but rather a disgruntled radical.

On the one hand, I'm human and I start to feel really bad for them, how scary it must be, how sad.

On the other... This is a problem of their own making (mostly GOP). Gun sales loopholes, NRA lobbying and campaign donations, violent rhetoric. Hey, let's not forget about people not always having access to good mental health care, ESPECIALLY THIS WEEK WHEN THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM MILLIONS MORE.

And let's not forget that it's somehow less of a tragedy when a black kid gets shot like a rabid dog for having a toy gun in an open carry state. Like this is supposed to be more sad because it's lawmakers? Whose own laws help facilitate this terrible person to do such a shitty thing? Who didn't give a shit for very long when it was Gabby Giffords?

Like, I don't approve of this at all and I don't want to live in a country where it becomes open season on politicians, but I'm also not having my usual empathy.

So the shooter was a 66 year old white dude from Illinois. He was a huge Bernie supporter who called Hillary "Republican Lite" and spent a ton of time railing against Trump. His Facebook was public and open for comments and it's extremely vile there right now. There's a sickness in this country.

Let's call him what he is: an anti-Hillary conspiracy theorist. He's not that different than the true believer/Alex Jones fan who believed that Hillary and John Podesta were running a child sex trafficking operation out of a pizza parlor, and walked in there fully prepared to shoot any child sex traffickers on sight. I commend Bernie for condemning him, but he can do more. We on the left have got to do better than this.

My husband works in that neighborhood and often uses that UPS facility for work. He just so happened to twist his ankle this morning getting on his bike and had to stay home. He engages with the staff there on the regular and is obviously very concerned right now as we wait for more news to come in. It is indeed beyond troubling when you have a significantly better chance of purchasing a gun than securing access to mental health care, which this shooter clearly needed. Right now, though, I'm both grateful that my husband has weak ankles and mournful for the senseless loss of life. Fuck.